


Product of his Raise

by Lafeae



Series: Brotherhood [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Being A Parent, Caring, Gen, Punishment, Tough Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 14:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14695872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafeae/pseuds/Lafeae
Summary: “Sometimes a difficult problem requires a creative solution.”And sometimes, Kaiba has to be Mokuba’s parent, even while he knows Mokuba is just looking out for him.





	Product of his Raise

**Author's Note:**

> Longer than I thought. Really, the crazy position they lay in was the only thing that gave me this idea....

“Mokuba, its time to get going. You had better be ready.”

In one swooped motion, Kaiba knocked on the bedroom door at the same time that he opened it up. A packed up book bag was stuttering out of the way as he forced the door open. At least Mokuba was packed up and ready to go. The book bag was picked up and set outside the door.

Inside, he could hear the muffled rhythm of a pop song, but initially didn’t see Mokuba anywhere in the room. The computer was shut off, and the stereo against the wall wasn’t playing. Kaiba rounded the bed towards the opposite side of the room. “Mokuba, the car is waiting for us; we need to leave. Whatever you’re doing can be done on the—“

Kaiba paused before saying ‘plane’ and settled his hands on his hips. At the place where the floor and the wall met, Mokuba laid at a ninety degree angle. His back on the floor. His legs ramrod straight on the wall. Feet were flat, like he was sitting in a chair. His arms were extended with a book in his hands. Next to him was a music player, with earbuds snaked into his ears. 

Squatting down within inches of his little brother, Kaiba poked at the music player’s screen to wake it, and again to hit the pause button. Mokuba flinched and leaned his head back to look at Kaiba, upside down. “Hey, nii-sama.”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh,...just, you know, thinking.”

The book was laid down over Mokuba’s chest, and his arms crossed on top of it. 

“Thinking? With your feet on the wall?”

“Yup.”

A delighted twinkle was in his eye. Kaiba’s mouth screwed in disbelief, though he found himself sitting down. It wasn’t as if Mokuba was reading a normal book the first place. Not that Kaiba was sure he was reading the book at all, or simply staring at it. The blood had to be rushing to Mokuba’s head; his cheeks were beet red. 

“Thinking about what?” Kaiba asked. He intended to stand, to try and pry Mokuba from the room to the waiting car, but this interaction was just too curious. He wasn't sure if he should have been reprimanding or discouraging this behavior. But he could at least hear Mokuba out.

“You said you were gonna need some more ideas for this next convention and...I was having trouble coming up with ideas. So I took your advice.”

Kaiba arched his back and scooted closer. Upon closer inspection of the book in Mokuba’s hands, a standard book on technical design, did he notice that the book was also upside down. 

“I see. What advice was that?” Kaiba said. 

In the process of asking, Kaiba put himself in the same direction as Mokuba, his shoes planted on the baseboards. 

“‘Sometimes, a difficult problem requires a creative solution’,” Mokuba replied, his voice deepened to mimic Kaiba’s gravelled tone. 

A sigh escaped Kaiba, and he tried to recall when it was that he told Mokuba that. It hadn’t been recent, that much he was certain. They hadn’t been working on anything he could construe as a ‘difficult problem’. Nor did he recall asking Mokuba for ideas. 

“You’ve been listening to my phone conferences again, haven’t you?” Kaiba asked. He bent his knees and slipped his feet further up the wall. His hands were pushing him to where he could place his behind on the wall. 

“Not....exactly...”

“Not exactly?”

“No...I sorta, was listening. But not, like, at the door or anything...”

Kaiba’s legs went straight, and his body balanced against the wall, trying to find equilibrium. It felt like gravity was about to make the tip of his polished shoe hit him in the forehead. 

“Did you bug the phone?” 

A flat-lipped, sheepish grin split across Mokuba’s face. “Um, not like...bugged. More like...copied? Or...whatever you wanna call it.”

Kaiba wasn’t sure if it was the position that made him feel relaxed, or if he was actually rather softened to the statement. It was going to require another ‘why’ that he felt like he knew the answer to. “Mirrored? In real time,” Kaiba said

“Maybe...”

“Maybe?”

“Not maybe. But just the study! You’d been yelling a lot with the door locked. I was worried about you. I know there’s been a lot of stuff going on, and you really haven’t asked me for much help. And you wouldn’t tell me when I asked and....”

“Enough, Mokuba.”

Kaiba’s hands laid on his chest, the fingers knit together. He wasn’t sure how well this method of ‘different perspective’ worked. The blood was rushing to his head, and the pattern on the ceiling wasn’t all that interesting to look at. 

“Sorry, nii-sama.”

Kaiba closed his eyes, took a breath, opened them again. “You really figured out how to mirror the phone?”

“...yeah.”

“And you figured this out to try and hear my conversations when I’m at home?”

“...yeah.”

Kaiba reasoned that he should have been angry. Mokuba had mirrored his office phone to hear conversations, to figure out what was making his nii-sama upset so that he could help. It made him well with pride. Or maybe that was the blood rushing to his head. Both. It was both. 

“I feel like you would have figured out how to lock pick the door first,” Kaiba said.

Mokuba’s eyes widened. He turned his head to find Kaiba looking straight at him. And choked back a laugh to see his brother in the same position as him. “Yeah...I thought about that,” Mokuba said, “but you were in the room, so, what use was that?” A pause. “Am I in trouble?”

Kaiba began to shift his hips to the side to roll his legs off the wall. The rush of blood and the awkward position was making a migraine begin to form. “I haven’t decided yet.”

Mokuba let out a small groan. Once Kaiba had moved, so did he, everything tucked away while he sulked out the door. His plucked his bag up and to run for the front door, though he was stumbling. In that time, Kaiba has already formulated a plan. 

By the time Mokuba reached the stairs, Kaiba was a stride away, holding onto his waist to prevent him from hurting himself when one shoe grabbed the back of the other at the top of the steps. He was hugged tight, patted on the shoulder, and they went down the stairs together. 

At which point Kaiba held out his hand towards Mokuba, silent and demanding. “What?”

“Phone.”

Another groan. It was dug out of his pocket and palmed into Kaiba’s hand. “You’re not gonna keep it for all weekend are you?”

“Maybe,” Kaiba shrugged. A swoop of his arm to motion Mokuba to the front door. 

“Maybe?”

“Not maybe,” Kaiba replied.

Mokuba’s face lost color. “No! Oh cmon don’t take my idea! That’s not what I was...that’s not the idea I was trying to give you...!” A small growled from Mokuba. The phone was pocketed and Kaiba pointed towards the door. 

Once Mokuba was gone, his arm dropped. Kaiba sighed. Difficult problem. Creative solution.

He was pretty sure he was rearing a felon.


End file.
